Future University of Wyoming and Wyoming community college students have a reason to celebrate.
Gov. Mark Gordon signed into law a bill boosting the Hathaway Scholarship payout by more than 70%, approving the award’s first major increase in its two-decade history.
The Hathaway is available to in-state students attending state colleges and is a key source of financial support for many pursuing higher education in Wyoming. But the rising cost of higher education and inflation in general have reduced the scholarship’s power.
Rep. Steve Harshman (R-Casper) said Wyoming needs to incentivize its young people to stay and pursue education in-state, especially given falling birth rates.
“People aren’t having five kids, like my family, anymore, or very few are,” he said on the House floor during Senate File 47’s final reading. “You’re going to see less [high school] graduates. So I think we want to really incentivize this, get our kids and keep them here and keep growing this state.”
When it was introduced in 2006, the top level Hathaway covered 91% of tuition and fees at the University of Wyoming. The award was bumped up just once, in 2014, and only by 5%. Today, it covers about 41% of tuition and fees.
The new legislation raises the top level Hathaway from $1,680 a semester to $2,360, and raises lower-tier scholarships proportionately.
SF47, which had passed in the Senate with a 26 to 4 vote, passed in the House with a 59 to 0 vote.
The bill increasing payouts was the only Hathaway-related legislation to hit the governor’s desk. But it was not the only such bill to have been proposed this session.
A separate bill would have allowed the Hathaway to be paid out to students in a lump sum rather than each semester. It was passed by the Senate only to be crushed by the House.
The Hathaway is currently paid out per semester across eight consecutive semesters.
“That works really well if you’re going into the university over the hill and doing a four-year program,” Rep. Ocean Andrew (R-Laramie) said when Senate File 36 hit the House floor. “But these scholarships are merit-based, and so the students actually work harder in school to try to get a higher level of this scholarship. And if they choose a two-year education program, they may only be able to use half of the funds that they worked for.”
Andrew said the lump sum bill was designed to benefit students who are seeking something other than a four-year degree.
But other representatives said they were worried about handing 17 and 18 year olds too much money too fast and about the possibility that young people could use up their entire Hathaway and run out of support before finishing their degree.
They voted overwhelmingly, 3 to 51, to kill the proposal, ending the bill’s journey.
